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About this project

Thanks everyone! If you missed the Kickstarter campaign, you'll still be able to get Puzzle Strike 3rd Edition and Puzzle Strike Shadows at sirlingames.com.

Last Update: Supporting Puzzle Strike on Kickstarter gets you: the game a month before everyone else, plus the print-and-play version for free, plus a free character unlock at fantasystrike.com, plus a free set of "randomizer" cards!

Puzzle Strike

This project will let us release a completely revamped 3rd Edition of Puzzle Strike, along with an all-new standalone expansion called Puzzle Strike Shadows. By supporting the game through kickstarter, you'll get the game one month before anyone else (except for retailers doing Preview Nights).

Puzzle Strike is a 2 - 4 player deckbuilding game that uses chips instead of cards for easier shuffling. It simulates a puzzle game such as Puzzle Fighter, so each player is trying to fill up the other's gem pile with too many gems. Being closer to losing also lets you draw more chips, so there's a built-in comeback factor. The game has a lot of interaction with other players, and offers the great fun of choosing from one of 10 characters...or 20 characters including the expansion.

Intense Competitive Game

One of the biggest goals of Puzzle Strike is to be the best deckbuilding game for tournament play. In order to achieve that, it's taken years and playtesting and balancing. When I saw the base set needed help to keep tournament play healthy, I didn't want to just ignore it and release endless expansions. I wanted to create the best base set we can possible make so that it can continue to stand up to tournament play *and* make an expansion to include the characters you might already have seen in Flash Duel 2nd Edition.

If you want dive deep into the strategy of the game, know this:

The new "Combine" chip ends up adding a lot of variety to how you build your deck.

All characters and puzzle chips were balanced at the same time, and around the new Combine.

Many puzzle chips from the base set were increased in power (some were too weak before, sorry!)

Months of testing by an intense, competitive community who plays the game constantly and who has helped sculpt the game to be interesting after even thousands of plays.

The best tournament players all came together to show you that strategy, too. They helped write a ridiculously in-depth guide:

It explains overall strategy, the econ / rushdown / defense triangle (see below!), and sections for all *twenty* characters and all 51 puzzle chips across the base + expansion. I think this guide is going to blow your minds at just how deep you can get into Puzzle Strike.

Fun Casual Game

That said, Puzzle Strike is also enjoyable on a much more casual level. And order to enhance that type of experience even more, there's now:

A Panic Time rule that prevents games from going too long.

A revamped Free-for-all mode, there's no player elimination and you can crash gems at any player you want.

Stretch Goals

I'd love to include even more components in the box without raising the game's price. People loved the extra components that came with the Puzzle Strike Upgrade Pack, so let's see if we can include those for free.

GOAL ACHIEVED! If we raise $25,000 -- Game boards. Four game boards in every box, similar to the playmats from the Upgrade Pack. They show where to put the gems in your gem pile to keep them separate from other game zones. They also have a helpful reminder of the turn phases and the number of chips you should draw each turn based on how full your gem pile is. The expansion boards have different art than the base set's.

GOAL ACHIEVED! If we raise $30,000 -- Screens. Four screens in every box that let you hide your chips on the table without holding them in your hand. The screens each illustrate a game rule in a funny way, with retro 8-bit art of the characters. The expansion screens show the expansion characters, so new art. :)

GOAL ACHIEVED! If we raise $40,000 -- Digital bonus. Everyone who pledged $10 or more will get a code to permanently unlock a character in the online version of the game at fantasystrike.com. (There's always two characters unlocked on a rotating basis, this will let you keep your favorite character always unlocked.) Also, anyone who pledged for a physical copy of the game will get the associated print-and-play version for free, before your physical copy arrives!

If we raise $60,000 -- Randomizer cards.Everyone who pledged $55 or more will get a set of "randomizer cards" for free! You can use these to randomly determine which puzzle chips to use as your 10 bank chips each game. This is a kickstarter-only bonus, so unlike the boards and screens, these randomizer cards won't come inside the box for everyone later and might not be available at all later. It's a special thing just for you guys right now. (You can put them in your box of course, they should fit.) The cards will look similar to the print-and-play version's cards, with an image of each puzzle chip on a separate card. Lots of you asked for this, so let's reach a level where it can be free for everyone!

Promo Chips

Some of the bundles you can get include three promo chips (5 copies of each chip). You might recognize them from the Puzzle Strike Upgrade Pack, but Combinatorics is completely changed to fit within the new Combine rule and Dashing Strike is slightly changed to work with the new free-for-all mode:

Where is Your Money Going?

Your money is going only towards a *portion* of manufacturing of the game. All the design, development, testing, and artwork is already done. In fact, you can play the 3rd Edition base set and the Shadows expansion right now on www.fantasystrike.com. All we need is your backing to pay for some of the manufacturing (we'll cover the rest), and to see if we can get a big enough order to include more components in each box. It's an amazing chance to offer more components at a *lower* price than the last version of Puzzle Strike if everyone pitches in.

Rulebooks

Shipping

The print-and-play options have no shipping cost.

All USA orders, free shipping!

Canada orders, please add $20 shipping.

All other international orders, please add $40 shipping.

The shipping costs are by the bundle, not by per individual copy, so you can save on shipping at the higher donation levels where more stuff is shipped to you. Note that we are subsidizing not only all US shipping, but also a portion of international shipping (it costs a lot to ship stuff, and Puzzle Strike is pretty heavy!).

Retailer Preview Nights

Retailers will have a limited-time opportunity to participate in Preview Nights, where retailers demo and sell advanced copies to their customers. Delivery will be at the same time as Kickstarter copies. If you'd like your favorite local retailer to participate , have them e-mail Sales@GameSalute.com about this opportunity.

Select Store Exclusive

Puzzle Strike will be available through local retailers and the Sirlin Games website, sometime after this kickstarter campaign. It will not be available through any online discount retailers.

This is to support the local retailers who choose to support Puzzle Strike. This allows us to lower the MSRP and to encourage local tournaments and events.

Springboard Approved

The Springboard Seal of Quality is your assurance that a new game project is worth your time and attention. All titles approved for Springboard campaigns are vetted by the game professionals at Game Salute. During this comprehensive evaluation process, Game Salute works with the publisher to ensure solid designs, thorough play testing, excellent presentation, and high quality components.

Thanks for Playing!

And now it's time to get *your* support. Choose a reward and make your pledge now. Sirlin Games and the Puzzle Strike community says thanks!

FAQ

Puzzle Strike 3rd Edition and the Shadows expansion both have totally different multiplayer modes than the 2nd Edition. There's a free-for-all mode with no player elimination now, and also a 2v2 Team battle mode. Several chips were reworded in the 3rd Edition base set to accomodate these modes. Also, there Combine chip is different now, with a -$1 on it (long story why, but it's a good change!) and several chips have been rebalanced in response to that. Also, several puzzle chips in the base set have been powered up in the 3rd edition to be more useful. For example, the chip "Secret Move" was hardly used in the 2nd Edition, but is now pretty spiffy in the 3rd Edition.

"Need" is a pretty strong word! The 3rd Edition set is a clean way to get everything working together in the best way possible, but you do have some options. The Shadows expansion is a stand alone game, so you can play that no matter what other set you do or don't have. And if you want to use your current 2nd edition set (possibly with the Upgrade Pack) with the new 3rd edition rules, you can do that too. Use the rulebook posted above in the project description, treat your Combine chips as if they have -$1 on them, and when playing a 3-player or 4-player free-for-all game, treat any text that says "previous or next opponent" as if it allowed you to choose any opponent you want.

You can use the freely available 3rd Edition rulebook with your 2nd Edition set, and some tips on that are in the question above. As for getting *just* the changed chips, that would be most or all of the chips, given that they are printed in sheets, and how many were changed in at least some way in the 3rd Edition. It would cost more than you'd expect given that it would be so many chips. Also, the only way we're able to get the cost down so low for the new base set and the expansion is to print all this at once as just two SKUs. So if you're interested in getting the Shadows expansion and mixing it with your base set, your choices are to use the new rulebook with your current set (and treat your Combines as having -$1), or to fully upgrade with the 3rd Edition set.

Yes it will. The boards and screens actually already fit inside the 2nd Edition box, under the tray, but the 3rd Edition box will be even bigger so that when you first open it, there's room enough under the tray for all the sheets of chips AND the boards and screens. When you sort the chips and put them up in the tray, there will be plenty of room for the extra components. Also, the tray now has a slot for 5 extra chips. That means if you get the 15 promo chips, you can take out the 10 blanks, and be able to fit all 15 of them in the tray.

Rewards

Pledge $1 or more

Pledge $10 or more

Puzzle Strike 3rd Edition print-and-play version. This gives you the digital files to print a card version of the game.

Estimated delivery:Jun 2012

You selected

Pledge $10 or more

20 backers

Puzzle Strike Shadows expansion print-and-play version. This gives you the digital files to print a card version of the expansion. (Base set isn't required to play the expansion.)

Estimated delivery:Jun 2012

You selected

Pledge $35 or more

7 backers

Puzzle Strike 3rd Edition print-and-play + Puzzle Strike Shadows expansion print-and-play + a 2 month STAR membership subscription to fantasystrike.com. Access to all Puzzle Strike and Yomi characters for that time. This actually gives *3* free months if you fully register as you redeem the reward. (Note: no physical copies of the game in this package, so a great way for international players to avoid shipping costs.)

Estimated delivery:Jun 2012

You selected

Pledge $55 or more

68 backers

Puzzle Strike 3rd Edition, a physical copy of the game.

Estimated delivery:Sep 2012

You selected

Pledge $55 or more

59 backers

Puzzle Strike Shadows expansion, a physical copy of the game. (Base set isn't required to play the expansion.)

Pledge $110 or more

Pledge $135 or more

347 backers

Puzzle Strike 3rd Edition base set AND Puzzle Strike Shadows expansion set AND the substantial strategy guide AND 5 copies of each of promo chip for even more gameplay variety. The promo chips are Combinatorics (new version!), Dashing Strike, and Custom Combo.

Estimated delivery:Sep 2012

You selected

Pledge $150 or more

9 backers

Everything in the above reward + a 2 month STAR membership subscription to fantasystrike.com. Access to all Puzzle Strike and Yomi characters for that time. This actually gives *3* free months if you fully register as you redeem the reward. (Note: you get the online membership months before the physical games arrive!)

Estimated delivery:Sep 2012

You selected

Pledge $210 or more

2 backers

Everything in the above reward, plus we'll send you the 2nd Edition of Puzzle Strike ($50 value + the Puzzle Strike Upgrade Pack right away ($25 value), when this kickstarter campaign ends. You'll get the rest of the stuff in September. (That's double free shipping for US customers, though Canada customers please add $40 for shipping and other international customers please add $80.)

Estimated delivery:Sep 2012

You selected

Pledge $350 or more

17 backers

The Dream Combo to support interesting asymmetric games! Everything in the above reward + Yomi Complete First Edition, Yomi Cursed Cards, and Flash Duel 2nd Edition. We'll send those along with Puzzle Strike 2nd Edition and the Puzzle Strike Upgrade Pack when this campaign ends, then send you Puzzle Strike 3rd Edition + Shadows Expansion when they're ready. You also get the Puzzle Strike strategy guide, all three promo chips, and 2 free months of STAR membership on fantasystrike.com (or 3 months if you fully register as you redeem the reward). You get double free shipping (lots of it) for US customers, Canada customers please add $40 for shipping, and other international customers please add $80.

Estimated delivery:Sep 2012

Funding period

Apr 17, 2012 - May 17, 2012
(30 days)

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